Cleaning your Jewellery

Facts

Cleaning your Jewellery

How do I clean my diamond rings?

Over time oils, dead skin, soap and general grime builds up on the surface of your ring. This grime sticks quite strongly to the surface and wiping with a cloth does clean a little, but more thorough cleaning is generally required.

At DDS Diamond Design Studios we have a high quality, high vibration Ultrasonic cleaner containing hot water, ammonia and detergent. We recommend that you get your jewellery professionally cleaned and polished yearly and rhodium plated as required. At this time we will check the stones to ensure they are not loose or compromised. We offer this free cleaning and safety check to our customers for life.

The method we use to clean your engagement ring is explained thus. We gently warm up your stone under hot running water. Once warmed we use a very fine bristled tooth brush, getting the bristles into any holes that contain grime. Once we have loosened any grime, the ring is put into the ultrasonic cleaner. It generally stays in there for about five minutes. The process of tooth brush and ultrasonic is repeated until all the dirt is gone.

The ring is then thoroughly cleaned and blow dried to get rid of moisture.

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Many people ask “How to keep my engagement ring clean” and especially, “How to clean my engagement ring at home”. It is pretty much the same process but without using an ultra sonic cleaner.

Step 1. Find a fine bristled tooth brush.

Step 2. Run hot water from the tap or put hot water into a bowl.

Step 3. Put liquid soap or detergent on the brush and into the water.

Step 4. Brush all surfaces of your ring especially the underside, underneath all the diamonds. This is where the grime usually builds up and is difficult to dislodge.

Step 5. If you can still see grime underneath the stones, keep running the ring under high pressured hot water from the tap, still brushing with the tooth brush.

Step 6. Once the ring is clean from all dirt and grime, wash off all detergent and rinse thoroughly.

Step 7. Dry with a towel and if you have one, a hair drier.

Once you have cleaned and dried your piece of jewellery, you can check if diamonds are loose by shaking it close to your ear, listening for a very soft rattling sound. If you have a loose stone, you should be able to hear it. The stone will need to be tightened by the jeweller.

Another question often asked is “How often should I clean my engagement ring?” and “Can I hurt my engagement ring when cleaning?”

Your ring is made of metal and generally diamonds, so what I am suggesting here will not damage the ring in any way (unless the stones are already loose or have not been set properly). Sometimes diamonds are loose and are being held into the ring by the grime that has built up. If this is the case, obviously the diamond will fall out while you are cleaning. However, keep in mind that it is better to have a stone fall out in a controlled environment, than out on the street.

This cleaning process is the same for Platinum, white gold and yellow gold and will keep your rings looking sparkling.

Another question is “What is the best engagement ring cleaner”? Well as you can imagine, specialised cleaners are expensive and unnecessary. Liquid soap and detergent work just fine. You could even use a hand sanitizer if you have nothing else but be sure to rinse the ring thoroughly.

Warning – some gemstones do not like ultra sonic cleaners. These are mainly the softer stones and stones that have been treated in some way. This includes turquoise, emeralds, opal, gemstones that have been treated to enhance colour and also diamonds that have been treated and fracture filled.